Silence
by xteamgibbsx
Summary: Not a soul is speaking at NCIS headquarters. Abby wants to find out why. But is she really prepared for the answer? Oneshot.


No one yell at me. Please?

My story You Meet the Best People on the Internet... I know I told some of you I would be continuing it, and I truly will, but I haven't written anything in ages and I just need to get my "creative juices" flowing again. I thought if this today (in the shower, if that's not weird..) and whipped it out as soon as I could. I really hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Not even remotely mine.

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Abby needed those dang tissue samples. How long could it possibly take Ducky to send them up to her? Best to go check it out herself.

Abby skipped over to the elevator and waited for the doors to open. She stepped inside and pressed the button for Autopsy. The ride seemed to take longer than usual; she had no idea why. Maybe because she was in a rush? But she really wasn't. Then what was that bothersome nagging feeling?

The doors open. Nevermind, she'd figure out the feeling later, after she had secured those tissue samples.

The sensors of the autopsy doors detected her and she walked inside as calmly as she could. Ducky wasn't expecting her, so she didn't want to startle him.

Abby looked over at the tables. Dead body, but no Ducky. She looked over to the freezers. Still no Ducky, or Palmer for that matter.

She turned her head to Ducky's desk. There he sat, head in hands. Eyes mysteriously red. Cheeks glistening with water; tears, possibly? Yes, tears.

"Ducky! What's wrong?"

Silence.

"Ducky?"

Silence.

Abby walked over to him. Nothing. She didn't know what to think. Ducky always told her everything, so why not now?

She heard the doors open and turned around. Palmer had arrived. She rushed over to him, hoping for some answers.

"Palmer? What's up with the Duck Man?"

Silence.

That was when she realized his eyes were blank. They were completely void of emotion. Nothing.

"Jimmy... are you alright?"

She shook his shoulders back and forth. He bent like willow, not resisting at all.

"PALMER!"

Silence. But, movement. Palmer jerked back from Abby's reach and sprinted into the filing room connected to Autopsy.

Abby had had enough. She had to find out what was up with those two. Tissue samples forgotten, she ran over to the staircase and hurtled up the steps. No time to wait for the elevator.

At the squad room floor she abandoned the staircase. Hoping for answers from the team, she ran over to their desks. No one was there. Probably out on a case. That was when she noticed it:

Silence.

Not a single person was talking on the entire floor. No phones were ringing, no fingers were typing, nobody even seemed to be breathing. Abby looked a little more closely. No, there were breathing. And some were even moving. But the actions looked half-hearted; like someone had hurt them, or... died.

Died?

No.

She needed answers even more urgently now. Who better to ask then the one who supposedly had his eye on them at all times?

The staircase up to the Director's office seemed much longer than before. She rushed up it as fast as she had ever gone. Ignoring the secretary's desk she pushed aside Vance's door and ran into the office. Vance would have an answer. He always did. No matter how cryptic it sounded, there was always an answer with Vance.

"Director Vance?"

He looked up from where he sat at his desk.

"Yes, Abby?"

He had used her first name. Never a good sign.

"I was just wondering.. why are Ducky and Palmer and the rest of the NCIS Agents acting so strange?"

Silence.

"I.. Abby.. I.. uh.."

Looks like she wasn't going to get an answer from Vance this time. As Abby whipped back out the door and down the staircase she didn't turn to see Vance appear to deflate, and she didn't see the presence of wetness in his eyes.

There it was; a sound. As Abby arrived at the bottom of the steps she heard it. The television in between McGee and Tony's desks was on.

Slower than usual, she walked over to the television. A few people had gathered around it. All were still silent.

It was turned to ZNN.

"... _interrupt our usual programming of Margaret: Queen of Cheesecake to bring you breaking news from downtown D.C. We have just received reports that 15 minutes ago at exactly 4:37p.m. a small bomb went off in a residential area of Washington. Four bodies were recovered and identified, all four of which were members of the Major Case Response Team of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service..."_

Four pictures appeared on the screen. Drivers license photos of

Tony.

Ziva.

McGee.

Gibbs.

Then, an aerial shot of the scene. A close up from a helicopter. Four bodies laid out on the ground. The only thing to separate them from any other dead bodies she normally saw in crime scene photos were the N.C.I.S. badges lying at their sides.

Someone turned off the television.

Silence.

Abby felt nothing. She knew this was it. Never again would there be anything. Nothing.

Silence.

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